


Inevitable

by touchinghearts



Category: SHINee
Genre: M/M, One Shot, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-29
Updated: 2011-03-29
Packaged: 2017-10-17 09:07:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/175210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/touchinghearts/pseuds/touchinghearts
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jinki worries but Minho’s there to reassure him. Sister story to 'Closet Thinking'. Post-Lucifer era.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inevitable

“Is something bothering you, hyung?”

Jinki blinked and raised his head so he could look Minho in the eye. The rapper gazed at him steadily, calm as ever despite the craze that was the world outside this bedroom. Jinki envied his ability to keep his composure; he himself felt strung out from trying to take everything in. He sighed and laid back down against Minho’s chest. Minho tightened his arms around him.

“Everything’s bothering me right now,” he said moodily.

Minho didn’t need an elaboration. “We’ll cope with this, hyung. We’re SHINee. Our fans won’t abandon us just because of this one thing.”

“We’re already lost a lot, Minho-ah. Didn’t you read the articles? I’ve never seen so many anti cafes popping up at one time. It wasn’t even this bad when we came out with Lucifer.”

“We’ll bounce back. It’s not like we’re going to let a little bad press affect us. We’re _SHINee_. We’re talented, we’re good-looking and we have an amazing fan base. This will blow over if we give it time, and believe in our fans.”

Jinki blinked again. “Didn’t I say that?” he wondered out loud.

“Yes, you did, while you were trying to be the strong leader and reassure everyone that things would be okay. I thought you were pretty convincing, by the way. Though the righteous tears might have been a little unnecessary.”

“You talk too much for a donsaeng.” Jinki didn’t sound annoyed, though. Instead, he curled even more into Minho’s side, sighing contentedly.

The rapper smiled down at him, soft and affectionate. His hand came up to stroke through his lover’s hair. “So what’s really troubling you?”

Jinki didn’t even bother to roll his eyes. He had never been able to conceal much from his attentive boyfriend; obviously this time was no exception. Minho knew him inside and out. Inside. And out. Literally.

“I’m worried about Jonghyun,” the leader admitted.

“He’ll be alright, hyung.”

Jinki’s eyes were half-lidded when he remembered the haunted look on Jonghyun’s face when he had come out the computer room. The way he had immediately rushed into their empty store room, locked the door and remained there for nearly an hour. Jinki had stood in front of it for a length of time earlier, before Minho had come to haul him away. He had heard absolutely nothing, not even whispers to indicate Jonghyun talking into his phone, and told him much more than he would’ve liked to know.

“Are you sure about that?” he said, although he didn’t really expect an answer.

Minho didn’t give him one. He, of all people, knew better than to give answers about things he couldn’t confirm. He didn’t really know if Jonghyun would be alright, not when he hadn’t even seen the lead vocalist since he had escaped into the closet. Jonghyun could be a number of things right now. ‘Alright’ was probably not one of them. But then again, he could be coping well with it. He’d need to, anyway, if they were to ever face the public again.

Minho closed his eyes for a moment, feeling sympathy well up inside him for the hard time Jonghyun would inevitably go through. _Is_ going through.

“Either way, it’s going to be certain hell for the next few days—or weeks,” Jinki murmured in his arms. “We have to be there for him.”

“Of course.” Minho squeezed him. “He knows we’ll support him no matter what. It’s the least we can do.”

Jinki didn’t reply. Silence languished over the couple for a few minutes, light but heady. Eventually Minho sighed.

“Sometimes I wish you would stop thinking,” he whispered into Jinki’s hair.

He felt his lover shake slightly in his arms as he chuckled. “I can’t help it,” he whispered back. “It’s sort of automatic for me. And for a normal human, now that I think about it.”

Minho poked him in the side. “What were you thinking about now?”

Jinki didn’t say a word for so long that Minho had to kiss him on the top of his side before he remembered that he was supposed to reply.

“Sorry,” he said bashfully.

“Won for your thoughts?” his boyfriend prompted gently.

Jinki hesitated. “It’s just…Hyunnie’s mentioned liking Sekyung-shii so many times,” he said quietly. “And no one said anything. But now that everyone knows the truth…there’s this backlash.”

“Jonghyunnie-hyung mentioning it doesn’t really do anything, people can ignore it,” Minho reminded him. “But this is flat out reality. It makes everything real. And people don’t like that. They’d rather all of us stay single so they can keep thinking that they’ll be able to snatch us up one day or that we’re dating each other.”

“I know, I mean—” Jinki squeezed his eyes shut and buried his face into Minho’s bare chest. Minho raised himself up slightly, propping his head against the piled pillows, and looked down at his hiding lover.

“Jinki?” he said softly. When the other didn’t move, he threaded his fingers through brown hair again, caressing Jinki’s scalp tenderly. “Jinki,” he called. “What is it?”

Jinki stirred and finally looked up. There was a pinched look on his face. Minho _hated_ that expression. It meant that Jinki was dwelling too much on things that were out of his control and pressuring himself. It meant that Jinki was stressing himself with anxiety, thinking about how helpless he was in situations like this and hating himself for that helplessness.

Frowning, Minho brought his hands to cup Jinki’s face and pull him up so he could kiss the look away. Jinki came willingly but although he wasn’t unresponsive, he didn’t taste as happy as Minho would have liked. He was tense and rigid where he was usually soft and welcoming, and his tongue darted almost uncertainly in Minho’s mouth as if to reflect the mess his brain was in. It wasn’t the worst kiss they had ever shared but it was far from pleasant. They parted and Minho looked at him worriedly.

“What’s wrong?” he urged.

Jinki sat up. He looked away for a moment before taking a deep breath and then locking eyes with Minho.

“I was thinking what it’d be like if it were us.”

Minho stiffened. “What do you mean?”

Jinki’s expression was almost pained. “What would the reaction be if we’re outed, Minho?” he said. “If Jonghyunnie and Sekyung-shii’s relationship gets this much trouble, imagine what it could be like for us.”

Minho stared at him. “…Is _that_ what you’ve been stressing yourself over?” he said in disbelief.

Jinki’s gaze sharpened. “It’s not something minor, Minho,” he snapped. “It’s not like Jonghyunnie wanted to be outed. Everyone knew the consequences. But then that stupid photographer caught him…”

“To be fair, it’s not like they were trying to hide it that much,” Minho pointed out.

“It’s not like we try to hide it that much either,” Jinki shot back. “Or did you forget our little trysts in open corners? _One_ little slip-up and it could all be over, Minho. It would be so much worse for us. Not only would the fact that it’s _both_ of us in a relationship cause a bigger backlash, the fact that it’s us in the relationship _together_ that would make the worst happen. South Korea’s not exactly the gay-friendliest country in the world. SHINee would be completely destroyed if we’re found out.”

So this was what had been plaguing Jinki all night. Minho sighed. While those fears were far from baseless, they weren’t exactly at the top of his list to worry about in the immediate future. He ran his fingers over Jinki’s jaw, tracing the defined line lovingly and looking up into those chocolate eyes that would never fail to bring him a sliver of happiness just by staring at him.

“Jinki,” he said gently. “Stop thinking.”

“But—”

Minho shushed him. “I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be careful,” he assured. “But Jinki, if we’re any _more_ careful, we might as well break up. Do you want that?”

“Of course not!” The older male seemed indignant that Minho had the nerve to ask something like that.

“Then stop worrying.” Minho touched Jinki’s forehead, causing the other to blink. “I know it’s going to be tough times right now,” he said softly. “And more than ever we need to look out for Jonghyun-hyung, and keep our relationship on the down-low. But it’s not worth it to worry so much. What will happen…will happen, no matter what we do. We can’t change that.”

Jinki chewed on his bottom lip until Minho tapped it to make him stop. He sighed.

“I guess you’re right,” he said uncertainly. “I’m just…scared. I don’t want anything to happen to the band because of our relationship.”

 _I don’t want to make SHINee fall._

Minho heard what he really meant quite clearly. He smiled and pressed a kiss to Jinki’s forehead. He pulled his boyfriend down to cuddle again, tucking Jinki’s head under his chin.

“Don’t worry,” he cooed. “It won’t. We’ll make sure of it, okay? And if something does happen one day…well, then we’ll just have to deal with it the best way we can. Together.”

He felt Jinki’s nose nuzzle against his collarbone. “There’s something else I’m worried about,” soft lips murmured.

Minho pretended to groan. “I need to find you a shrink,” he said dramatically. Jinki smacked him on the shoulder even as he edged closer to Minho.

“If…if we really are found out…” He spoke hesitantly, as though it was difficult for him to form the words. Considering what he was afraid of, Minho thought it probably was. “W-what if they try to break us up?”

Silence.

Minho stared up at the ceiling. This was an issue both of them had done their best to avoid. Neither he nor Jinki had ever thought it was wise to tell anyone in their respective families of the fact that they were together. ‘They’ specifically referred to their parents, who did not know of their sons’ relationship and who would most probably not approve should they find out. Minho’s  parents definitely wouldn’t.

He didn’t know what the outcome would be if the truth was revealed.

He sighed. This was another thing he didn’t think they should be thinking about. While it was often good to have things figured out early on, it just wasn’t possible to tell the future. Anything was possible. His parents might decide to disown him for his type of associations because they were ashamed of him. They could also decide to accept Jinki because they loved their son too much to let him go. It was a tossup and he would just drive himself crazy trying to foresee which coin face would be the one looking at him from the floor.

He was sure of one thing, though. If anybody tried to come between him and Jinki, they were in for a nasty surprise. Minho wasn’t going to let anyone tear them apart. He was willing to fight to keep this relationship because he saw so much potential it had in making them both happy. He knew Jinki felt the same. If other people couldn’t accept them, they would accept each other.

“If that happens,” Minho whispered, “then I’ll steal you away to Canada and we’ll get married.”

He could feel Jinki’s breath catching in his bones. Silence reigned yet again for a long while. Then Jinki’s fingers curled into his neck, the fingertips brushing his skin lightly.

“You promise?” he said in a small voice.

Minho felt the smile practically split his face in half. “I promise.”

Jinki’s lips curved into that dazzling beam he was famed for. The feel of Minho’s warmth seeping into him from his side caused him to close his eyes with a little sigh. For the first time since Jonghyun’s relationship with Shin Sekyung had been exposed, he felt contentment seep into his body, causing him to relax down onto the bed. The worries fled from his mind for the time being, allowing him to enjoy the rare pleasure of spending time with someone he was falling in love with.

No matter what the morning brought, everything was going to be okay.

 

 

 **END**

**Author's Note:**

> Directly related to previously posted 'Closet Thinking', a Jonghyun-centric fic [that I can't link you to, because I don't know how T___T].


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